Atheist Agenda

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Smut for Smut was AMAZING. International news? That's ridiculous. The last day proved to be the most productive out of any of the days. Most people finally learned that we were there to be civil and actually discuss things and the porn was a mere ice breaker.

Crazy guy speaking tongues finally got thrown off campus.. Ummm... Had more muslims than any other day, one guy in particular I had a very good conversation with. Although he was hypocritical about some stuff but major respect to him.

Overall campaign couldn't have gone ANY better honestly (except for the death threats haha)

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Well I think today was a lot bigger than yesterday. Not in terms of numbers, but in terms of the people that we actually got the opportunity to talk to not. Not get yelled at by. Also had a lot more people swapping today now that they know we are here.

We also made national AND international news (Spain, Auzzieland, and New Zealand) which is pretty epic.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Yesterday was CRAZY. Protests started off in small prayer groups but soon grew to a HUGE crowd. I was surprised to see how fast our support grew too.

The intentions of Smut for Smut are working out really nicely in smaller doses than we would hope. A lot of people have come up to trade in their texts and talk with us. Some come up to just to find out exactly what we're about,

When: March 1-3: 10am-5pmWhere: UTSA Main Campus by the Sombrilla in front of the MS and HSS

Trade your HOLY SCRIPTURE IN FOR PORN

We're tabling in front of the Sombrilla on March 1st-3rd from 10am-5pm.

Q: What the hell do you think you’re doing?A: We’ve set up a table where people can stop by and donate their religious reading material and – if they desire, and if they are old enough – receive a number of porn magazines. This can include fundamental texts like the Koran, the Bible, or Dianetics; religious apologia and self-help like Warren’s The Purpose-Driven Life and Lewis’s Mere Christianity; or those unnerving little tracts that Jack Chick makes.

We aren’t the first to come up with this. A group at UT Austin called The Knighthood of Buh did a similar thing called “Porn for Bibles” several years ago. They weren’t atheists, so they didn’t get nearly the publicity (or the backlash) we did when we broadened it to include all religions. It’s a clever reversal of the projects some religious groups have in which they collect porn and distribute bibles, and we owe the idea to the Knights.

Q: Why would you do such a thing?A: It’s symbolic. Pornography is vilified by the religious community, but in reality the values espoused by religious doctrine are far more reprehensible. So, in effect, it’s trading something appalling for something less appalling. We also like to get people to think, to talk to us, and to debate with us. That only works when they understand just what we’re doing, hence this FAQ.

Q: My religious text is the infallible pinnacle of moral decency. Where could you possibly find fault in it?A: The Bible and the Koran endorse slavery (Lev. 25:44-46; Col. 3:22; Koran 24:58), misogyny (Lev. 15:19-30,33; 27:3-7; Deut. 22: 23-24; 1 Cor. 14:34-35; 1 Tim 2:9; Koran 2:282; 24:31), violence (just search for any combination of the words “fire,” “blood,” “pain” and “doom”), and genocide (Ex. 12:29-30; Num. 31:1-54; Koran 17:16-17). God kills or commands the death of at least 2,270,365 people in the Bible, many of whom were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Koran isn’t much better.

These books do say something about loving one’s neighbor, being kind and charitable, and many other commonplace platitudes. But do we need the bloody mess that comes in between these statements? Haven’t many of us figured these things out for ourselves? Why does the divine consciousness that wrote or inspired these books contradict itself so markedly?

Q: Doesn’t this objectify women?A: Women choose to participate in pornography of their own accord, and to say it objectifies them against their will presupposes their inability to make decisions – a mindset that kept them from voting and holding careers for a long time. If they want to display themselves in such a manner, and if consumers want to see, then both parties come away happy. The problem arises when someone who uses porn becomes addicted to it or can’t separate fantasy from reality. That’s a failure of the person, not the product.

We also have gay porn. How does that objectify women?

Q: Are you going to burn my book if I give it to you?A: Destroying knowledge is one of the most disgusting acts imaginable. We keep what you give us as debate tools. Sometimes, in the case of tracts or pamphlets, they’re good for a laugh.